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Tuesday, March 11, 2014

The Devils lead the Philadelphia Flyers 2-1 in the third period of tonight's game at Prudential Center

THIRD PERIODJaromir Jagr scored 7:42 into the third period to give the Devils a 2-1 lead. A strong shift by the line of Tuomo Ruutu, Travis Zajac and Jagr ended with Jagr taking a backhand from the right edge of the crease that went off the blocker of goaltender Steve Mason and trickled in on the short side.

That was Jagr's 21st goal of the season and the 702nd of his career. He has a goal an assist tonight and points in four consecutive games (two goals, three assists). Ruutu has two assists tonight and one goal and three assists over the last two games.

SECOND PERIODDefenseman Nicklas Grossman scored 47 seconds into the second period to pull the Flyers even at 1. Martin Brodeur was not happy with himself on this one as Grossman threw the puck on net from the left wing boards and it found an opening between Brodeur's pads for Grossman's first of the season, ending a 75-game drought.

The Flyers went on the power play for the third time at 2:52 when Bryce Salvador was called for high sticking Steve Downie. The Devils did a good job of killing it off without yielding a shot on goal.

The Devils received their second power play when Jakub Voracek was called for interference with Ryan Clowe at 9:16, but did little with it, generating only one shot on goaltender Steve Mason -- a Jon Merrill point shot at 9:35.

Brodeur did a split to make a glove save on Grossman's straight-on point shot with Vincent Lecavalier screening in front at 12:45.

The Flyers received their fourth power play of the night when Tuomo Ruutu was called for head contact on a hit on Downie at 13:15. The Devils did a good job killing that off, limiting the Flyers to only one shot on goal.

Brodeur sticked aside Scott Hartnell's deflection of Mark Streit's right point shot with 2:50 left in the second. That came during an extended shift for the defense pair of Andy Greene and Mark Fayne, who could not get off the ice because the Devils failed to get the puck into the Flyers' zone when they had a chance.

The Flyers outshot the Devils, 12-7, in the second period.

FIRST PERIODThe Flyers received the first power play of the game with Devils defenseman Andy Greene being called for tripping Mark Streit 2:46 into the game. The Devils were fortunate to survive that one as the Flyers had the puck in their zone for almost the full two minutes. Martin Brodeur came up big with three saves, including a left pad stop on Wayne Simmonds in front at 2:59 and another left pad save on Claude Giroux from the left circle at 3:55.

The Devils went on the power play for the first time when Steve Downie was called for goaltender interference at 5:03. The Devils didn't score, but generated some good momentum with three shots on goal.

Travis Zajac gave the Devils the lead at 7:56 with his 12th goal of the season and third in the last four games. Zajac worked a give and go with Jaromir Jagr coming out of the left corner and, after receiving Jagr's return pass from the left circle, showed good patience in holding onto the puck as he cut across the front of the net and fired the puck past goaltender Steve Mason's blocker. Tuomo Ruutu also assisted for his third point in the last two games (one goal, two assists).

The Flyers went on the power play again when Marek Zidlicky was called for cross checking Scott Hartnell at 9:11. The Devils did a much better job killing that penalty off with Brodeur needing to make only one save -- a pad stop on Streit's blast from the right point at 10:45.

The Devils limited the Flyers to just one shot on goal over the remainder of the period. That was a wide-open one-timer from Matt Read from between the circles with 32.4 seconds left in the period that Brodeur stopped with his stick and then covered up after initially having some trouble finding the puck.

Devils left wing Ryan Carter appeared to lose some teeth in the upper part of his mouth when he was hit into the right corner boards and glass by Flyers defenseman Nicklas Grossmann with 1:12 left in the first period. Carter remained down initially, but got up eventually and skated off on his own.

The Devils outshot the Flyers 13-6 in the first period and limited them to only two shots at even strength.

The Devils entered the night trailing Columbus and Detroit by two points for the final playoff spot in the East and four points behind the Flyers for third place in the Metropolitan Division.

Columbus hosts Detroit tonight, so one of those two will be picking up two points and the Devils will lose ground in the playoff race if they don’t defeat the Flyers.

The Devils have are 4-2-0 since the Olympic break, scoring four goals or more in five of those games, but allowing 18 total in their last four. The Flyers are 7-1-1 in their last nine games.

Martin Brodeur, who has won his last three starts, started in net for the Devils against Steve Mason for the Flyers.

Defenseman Anton Volchenkov returned to the Devils’ lineup after being a healthy scratch the last three games. He replaced rookie Eric Gelinas, who is a healthy scratch.

Devils center Adam Henrique has scored goals in six consecutive games – nine total – to equal the team record shared by six others. The only player in the NHL with a longer goal streak this season is Anaheim's Corey Perry, who scored in seven consecutive games from Nov. 29 to Dec. 11.

About

TOM GULITTI has covered the New Jersey Devils for The Record since 2002. Prior to that, he covered the New York Rangers for four years. Gulitti joined The Record in 1998 after six years at The North Jersey Herald News. He graduated from Binghamton University in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts in Rhetoric-Literature.